Innocence
by Kyuu nee-chan
Summary: When Naruto was eight, he met someone who didn't hate him. Someone who treated him like a brother. However, during an almost rape, Naruto killed him. Naruto will forever carry the scars in his heart, even if he doesn't remember.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Eight year old Uzumaki Naruto made his way down the streets of Konoha with a wide, vulpine grin down his face. Never mind the glares that everyone was throwing him. Never mind the curses people shouted as he passed. Never mind the blatant disgust. They didn't matter today. Why?

"Haruki-nii-san!"

A young man looked up from the novel he was reading as Naruto called out his name. The man, Haruki, had wavy, sandy blond hair that dipped down in front of his emerald eyes. His skin was pale and soft, and his touches feather soft. When he smiled it looked so warm and radiant that the sun paled in comparison. He was a very beautiful man, but he was far from vain. He was kind, and gentle. And, much to the surprise of many of the villagers, he was the adopted 'brother' of one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Ah, Naru-chan," Haruki said, offering Naruto a smile as the smaller blond ran up to him. Naruto wrapped his arms around his 'nii-san's' waist in a tight hug. Haruki patted the top of Naruto's head, ruffling his soft hair.

"Nii-san! You know what today is, right?" Naruto asked excitedly, sapphire eyes sparkling in delight.

"Of course," Haruki said, "How could I forget my otuo's birthday?" Naruto continued to stare at him expectantly, but the older blond made no move to offer him a hidden package. "Gomen, otuo, but I don't have your present with me. I was just going to go get it. Do you want to come with me?"

Naruto grinned, nodding enthusiastically. Haruki smirked, but the expression went unnoticed by the kitsune as he closed his book and stood up. He offered Naruto his hand. Naruto accepted it readily and allowed himself to be led away from the park, away from the more pleasant area of Konoha. Naruto continued to smile, even as the neighborhood became less friendly and the homes less nice.

Haruki turned and led Naruto into an alley, though the younger blond was too drunk on happiness and false hope to notice anything unusual. Haruki let go of his hand as he approached the side entrance to and abandoned building. The elder blond grabbed a piece of wood that was nailed across the door and wrenched it off with his bare hands. Naruto watched his feat of strength in awe, still not suspicious. After all, he was with his beloved older brother. Why should anything bad happen to him?

Haruki opened the door and smiled gently to Naruto, motioning for him to go inside. Naruto smiled back and behaved obediently. He ran inside, not noticing the smirk on Haruki's face as he closed the door.

Naruto looked around the dark, depressing old building, disappointment in his eyes. He had sort of been expecting a party, or something. Suddenly, he heard a noise that made his heart jump: a key turning in a lock. He whirled around, coming face to face with Haruki, who had just locked the door behind him with a rusted old key.

"Nii-san?" Naruto started nervously, only now becoming aware of the danger he might be in.

"Stop calling me that," Haruki barked, voice so much colder than normal. Naruto flinched at its roughness and started to back away slowly.

Haruki advanced on the frightened boy, not stopping until Naruto had backed himself against a wall. Haruki kneeled down in front of Naruto, and glared at him coldly.

"Naruto-chan," he started, his voice sending chills up the other's spine, "It's okay, you're going to be okay." Haruki leaned in closer so his mouth was right by Naruto's ear and blew in it, causing Naruto to shiver fearfully.

"S-stop," Naruto choked, voice catching in his throat.

"Stop?" Haruki asked, looking surprised, "Why? Don't you like me, Naruto-chan? Haven't you been looking at me longingly all this time?"

"That was… I-I-"

Haruki licked the shell of Naruto's ear and pulled his head back to look into Naruto's frightened orbs. "You want this," he whispered coldly.

Suddenly the door opened and two more men, brutish thugs by the look of it, entered the room.

"Hey? What are you doing?" one of them asked, and for a moment Naruto thought he was going to be saved, until he continued, "I thought you said we could have 'im first!"

Haruki glared at the man, but didn't argue. He stood up and backed away, allowing the thugs to advance on the poor, frightened boy.

"Be a good boy now, ya hear?" one of them said, as he slammed his hands against the wall on either side of Naruto's head.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror. He tore them away from the man's face, in the process noticing a rather large knife in his belt…

"Before you start, the money," Haruki's now cold voice said. Naruto peered past the thug in front of him as the other pulled a wad of rolled up dollar bills from his pocket and handed it to Haruki. Naruto felt tears welling up in his eyes as he watched the exchange.

"Nii-san," Naruto whispered desperately, hoping fruitlessly that this was all a mistake and that Haruki was really the kindhearted 'nii-san' that he'd always thought him to be.

Haruki locked eyes with Naruto, his cold, icy emerald locking with wavering blue. He stared for a moment before looking away. "After you."

Naruto felt his heart shatter as the thugs, both of them at the same time, advanced on him. Everything after was a blur. He felt them tugging at his clothes, heard their jeering insults. He grabbed at them, his hand grasping the handle of something. There was a spray of blood and…

When he could finally think clearly again, Naruto was on his knees, staring at the bodies of both thugs, and Haruki. They were drenched in blood, there was a sea of it across the floor, and it was making him absolutely sick. There was blood splattered on his clothes, on his arms. Naruto looked down, eyes widening in shock and horror when he saw the blood-stained knife in his hands.

"N-no… I…" he trailed off as he came to a realization. He was dead. His beloved older brother, Haruki, was dead. And he had killed him.

The door burst open and three ANBU entered the room, but Naruto didn't notice. The masked men set to work inspecting the bodies, but Naruto continued to stare on horror. Then one of them said a phrase that made him lose it: death confirmed.

Naruto screamed.

The Sandaime had entered the room last, without being noticed. He approached the small boy, who was screaming and sobbing hysterically. Kneeling down, he took Naruto into his arms. Naruto continued screaming until he passed out. The Sandaime took him to the hospital immediately thereafter.

The next day Naruto couldn't recall what happened. When questioned on the previous day's events he could only recall blacking out, and waking up to see Haruki's dead body. He didn't even remember the other two.

The Sandaime himself already knew what had happened. Having had seen the events through his crystal ball, he was more thankful than anything else for Naruto's lapse in memory. Naruto was still innocent, in a sense. He didn't know about Haruki's betrayal, or what the elder blond had planned to do with him. He was still innocent.

But still, Naruto seemed to remember subconsciously, because after that he started wearing baggy clothes, like his orange jumpsuit, and he was wary of strangers, especially men. He never, ever told anyone about Haruki. Not even his teammates, four years later. He carried those wounds himself. In the end, Naruto really wasn't so innocent.

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Author's Corner: Hello everyone. I'm sorry to those who are waiting for me to update Kyuuketsuki. It's just that I'm a sucky writer and I can't decide how I want chapter three to turn out. If anyone wants to help me out it would be greatly appreciated!

Anyway, I wrote this as kind of a sudden thing. I feel so bad for chibi-Naruto in this. I wanted to go for angsty and this is what came out. Please review and tell me what you think!


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